
There were few investments that have paid off as handsomely as those who invested in a single-family home in the Northern Palm Beaches this year. Back on January 1st, the median price of a single family home sat at $491,000. As of November 1st, that median priced home had jumped all the way to $600,000 in value, or an increase of over 22%.
While single family prices have pulled back slightly since then, condo prices that had lagged are starting to ascend swiftly. They are up for 5 straight months to another new modern day high and finally positioned to take out the old record highs last seen during the great real estate bubble that popped over 15 years ago.
Certainly, record breaking million-dollar home sales have helped drag median prices to record levels, but moving forward it's going to be the lack of inventory that tells the story. Finding a good home in Jupiter, or anywhere in the Northern Palm Beaches, is not an easy task. In fact, it's an extremely hard task.
Inventory of resale homes for sale has been terrible, it continues to be terrible and it's getting worse. We are in a time of the year when people are putting homes on the market in anticipating of the “season” where home sales typically explode and bring us the best real estate months of the year. But this year, new inventory has not come on line and the record low number of homes for sale just continues to get worse and worse.
It’s truly like the old “limbo bar” as we look to find out how low can we go. It was back on July 1st that total resale home inventory slipped below 1,600 for the first time in modern history. It’s been all downhill from there. Since then, it has dropped almost daily. Below 1,500. Then 1,400, Then 1,300. In December it dropped below 1,200 units for the very first time and today sits at another all-time record low of 1,138 homes.
The last couple months we have been averaging about 600 homes sales each month which means inventory has slipped below 2 months, with few new homes hitting the market, as we head into what historically is the strongest 6 months of sales. It's a recipe for prices to explode to the upside even further. Falling interest rates that are already at all time historic lows are adding fuel to the fire.
Demand is at record levels for those looking to buy a home in Jupiter. Pending home sales today are 48% higher than they were a year ago. Pending homes sales above the million-dollar price point are 240% higher than they were a year ago. And resale inventory sits at all-time record lows, it’s a recipe for local home prices to explode to the upside.
New homes are also in very short supply and very expensive. Far more expensive than what homes in the resale market are selling for. This week, Paradise Sharks sold a home in a new home community that started taking reservations in early 2018. Over the past two weeks, they have sold almost 20% of the homes in the community and are pretty much sold out. Understand that. A community that has been selling for 34 months, took 33 1/2 months to sell about 80% of their community, and in just about 2 weeks sold the remaining 20%. And we are just heading into season. It’s a recipe for prices to explode to the upside.
Stay educated as this a real estate market nobody has seen before. The lack of homes to sell, the demand that has been off the chart, interest rates that mean money is almost free. The wildcard is the economy that is struggling, a political divide in this country that is only widening and many questions as we head into the new year.
Paradise Sharks remains dedicated to bring you the most accurate, up to date information you will find anywhere on what's happening with real estate in the Northern Palm Beaches. Our passion is to bring you the best customer service and the lowest prices you will find anywhere when it comes to real estate services. We are a small business and intend to stay that way as our size is our beauty. We are still looking for the perfect partner for our Jupiter office to help us do what we do. If you know anybody who is amazing and wants to make a very good living saving their friends and neighbors on real estate services please have them contact me. Not many brokers are focused on improving customer service and lowering prices but we are, and we are very proud of it.
If you ever have any real estate questions, or need help in any way, please feel free to reach out to us at paradisesharksrealestate@gmail.com or 561.308.0175. No franchise fees, no broker taking a cut of our commissions, no middlemen in our world, just fantastic savings that we pass along to our clients, friends and neighbors.
Fins up…..
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